. >> holman: senate majority leader harry reid agreed with that assessment, but he suggested there's a way to recover. >> now, i like john boehner, but gee whiz, this is pretty big political battering he's taken. what he should do is allow a vote in the house of representatives on a bipartisan bill. it will pass. >> holman: the president met this afternoon with reid and spoke with boehner, then came to the white house briefing room. >> in the next few days work towards a package that avoids tax hike on mid class, >> and lays the groundwork for further work on both growth and deficit reduction. that's an achievable goal. that can get done in ten days. >> bayne never >> holman: in his appearance earlier, boehner, flanked by majority leader eric cantor, sounded doubtful, but said he's willing to try. >> how we get there, god only knows. all i'm telling you is that eric and i, and our team here are committed to working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, both sides of the capitol, and the white house to address that. >> holman: still, as the capitol emptied for the holiday, t